Tasty Mexican Salad Recipes You Need to Learn

So it’s Mexican night at your house and you are wondering what your menu should be. You’ve chosen your mains and even your dessert. You just need to come up with a good appetizer or side dish. Well, how about some salads? We’ve gathered some of the best salad recipes that you can do to complete your Mexican fiesta! These are very simple to make and some can even be made in advance so you won’t have to be pressed for time.

5 Mexican Salad Recipes You Will Love

All of these salad recipes use ingredients that typical in Mexican food. Some of these recipes are are vegetarian and some include meat. Some have lettuce and some don’t. It is fun to have different Mexican salad recipes to go with different dishes or to be served as main courses. Most Mexican salad recipes are easy to prepare, requiring simple ingredients that are full of flavor like red onion, cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and fresh lime juice. Visit the blog links to get the full recipe card for each recipe.

Taco Salad

This won’t. be a list of Mexican salads if we don’t include a Taco Salad Recipe! This dish is perfect to pair with some grilled meat, although we can consider this a dish in itself!

You can flavor this with some taco seasoning you bought, or better yet make a big batch of homemade taco seasoning instead. If you really want to impress, you can make your own taco bowl. But if pressed for time, you can just use some premade tortilla chips instead.

Easy Mexican Salad Recipe With Lettuce

This Chopped Mexican Salad Recipe has some of the best ingredients you can find in Mexican cuisine. You’ll only need 15 minutes to make this dish. And most of the work is chopping all the ingredients.

Once its done, all you need to do is to toss them together, along with the lime dressing that you have made. The cotija cheese should be sprinkled on top just before serving.

Mexican Black Bean Salad

This is very similar to the recipe above except that it has no lettuce and the black beans are the base of the salad. So why would you want to make this? First off, black beans are a good source of protein and even fiber and they taste great. This Mexican Black Bean salad can be made in advance, as long as it is stored inside your fridge.

One thing to remember is that if you are using canned black beans, the sodium content may not be ideal. Look for the low-sodium variant if you are aiming for a healthier diet.

If you want to add meat to the salad, you are more than welcome to do so. Any type of meat will go well with these flavors, whether it’s chicken or even shrimp.

Grilled Chicken Fajita Salad

Here’s a Mexican salad with chicken that you can actually consider the main dish. It combines the flavors of fajita but with the added freshness typical of a salad dish.

This Grilled Chicken Fajita Salad may take longer to prepare than other salad recipes, but that is because you want your meat to marinade for enough time so that the flavors will really come through. The chicken breasts will only take about two hours to marinade, but if you want to use another protein, like beef, you may have to marinate overnight for better flavors.

Once you are done marinating, all you have to do is grill your meat and mix it with the rest of the ingredients. After this, you top with some fresh cilantro lime dressing that you should have prepared.

Mojito Steak Salad Recipe

This delicious salad is great for meat lovers too! You marinate the steak in a mojito before you grill and slice for the salad. You will love the combination of fresh lettuce and herbs with grilled veggies. This Mojito Grilled Steak Salad Recipe is sure to be a hit.

Tips for Making the Perfect Salad

Mexican salad recipes are popular for several reasons. Mexican salads can be very versatile, allowing you to customize them based on your preferences. You can add different types of beans, vegetables, grains, and proteins to create a salad that suits your taste. Mexican cuisine is known for its bold and vibrant flavors, often using ingredients like lime, cilantro, jalapeños, and various spices. These ingredients add a lot of flavor to salads.

Aim for a variety of textures

Here is one good tip that you need to incorporate every time you make a salad. You want to make sure that you have a variety of textures.

No one just wants a mushy salad or something that is all crunchy. By varying your textures, you are giving people something more to enjoy.

Some examples of crunchy textures include jicama, apples, and croutons. For soft textures, you can add some creamy avocado, cheese, and some hard-boiled eggs. You may also want to add some chewy food like bacon or other types of protein or some dried berries.

Add fats for flavor

If you want to add more flavor to your salads, you should put some fat into it. But you need to be choosy with what ingredients you will choose, especially if you are trying to lose weight.

Choose the healthy types of fat so that are getting not just flavor but also nutrients! Some of the fats that you can add to your salad include avocados, olive oil and nuts.

Make your own dressing

We can acknowledge that buying ready-made salad dressings are very convenient. But there’s just something about homemade dressings that take your salad to a whole new level. Not only that, but it is also healthier too.

Because you are making your own, you know exactly which ingredients are added. You can also replace some that are not good for you.

Each of the salads that I linked to includes a recipe for the perfect Mexican salad dressing. If you don’t always have the time to make a new dressing for all your salad recipes, you can just make a big batch of your favorite recipe. Keep it in an airtight container.

The shelf life of your dressing depends on the type. If your dressing is vinaigrette-based, it can last up to two weeks. But if you have a dressing that has fresh ingredients like eggs, tomato sauce or dairy, they only have a shelf life of one week.

Conclusion

Many Mexican salad recipes are healthy and nutritious, packed with vegetables, beans, and lean proteins. They can be a great way to incorporate more vegetables and plant-based proteins into your diet. Salads are so versatile whether as a meal in itself or as a side dish to your main protein. Another fun thing about Mexican salads is that they are often very colorful, with ingredients like grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, avocados, and fresh corn kernels, making them visually appealing. Any of these salads will indeed be a joy to serve!

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